After reports circulated in the news media of a federal election filing, the transgender whistleblower confirmed her political aspirations for the Maryland seat Sunday on Twitter, in a post that included a fundraising video.

The crime led Manning, who came out as trans in 2013, to be hailed as a hero by some and a traitor by others. News of her Senate run showed how divisive a figure she has become, eliciting enthusiasm from progressives as well as antipathy laced with transphobia from the right.

Critics also pointed out Manning's lack of political experience — although this attack rings hollow from supporters of Donald Trump, who never held a political office before he became president.

Gay journalist Glenn Greenwald and longtime Manning defender — he famously helped publish classified documents leaked by Edward Snowden in The Guardian — took to Twitter to burnish her accomplishments in response to naysayers.

Chelsea Manning's leaks:

* exposed video of US gunning down unarmed innocents & journalists* documented systemic war crimes in Iraq & Afghanistan* helped end the Iraq War by preventing new agreement to keep troops* fueled Arab Spring by exposing corrupt regimes (Bill Keller)

And political experience is not what Manning is promoting. In her campaign video, she positioned herself as "someone willing to fight" and "take the reins of power" from the political establishment:

We live in trying times, times of fear, of suppression, hate. We don’t need more or better leaders. We need someone willing to fight. We need to stop asking them to give us our rights. They won’t support us. They won’t compromise. We need to stop expecting that out systems will somehow fix themselves. We need to actually take the reins of power from them. We need to challenge them on every level. We need to fix this. We don’t need them any more. We can do better. We’re damn right we got this.